Seal



E. BEICH.

, SEAL. APPLICATION FILED J ULY N11916- Patented Apr. 20, 1920 2SHEETS-SHEET I.

' INVENTOR flJZCVSZ A TTORNE Y E. REICH.

'SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 14.1916.

Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

' 2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Q w y. E m v. m Z r 2 r 5 M I. l s H E a 5 WM m 71 W a iirnn strains PATNT OFFICE.

ERNEST REICI-I, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNQR TC HILL PUMP VALVECOMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A GOBPGRATION OF ILLINOIS,

SEAL.

Specification of Letters l atent.

Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

Application filed July 14, 1916. Serial No. 189,300.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, Ennnsr Enron, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, county of Cook and State of Illinois, have inventeda new and useful Improvement in Seals, of which the following is aspecification.

The invention relates to seals preferably used upon car doors, butadaptable to any purpose wherever seals of this type are required.

The purpose of providing seals of this character consists in enablingthe quick detection of tampering therewith since opening of the seal canonly be effected by means of force and is attendant by visible signs ofdestruction.

The sealshitherto placed on the market, in spite of many endeavors toperfect the same so as to meet practical requirements possess certainadvantages which are obtained by the loss of others. While it iscomparatively easy to construct a seal which in locked condition cannotbe opened without mutilation, the objectionable features of most sealsis found in the presence of a casing which formed at one end of a striprec vives the other end thereof, thus rendering it difficult to detectwhether attempts have been made to open the seal.

It therefore constitutes the principal object of my invention to providea seal with its parts accessible to inspection, and which in spite'ofthis arrangement obviates any possibility of tampering therewith, andrenders opening thereof without mutilation entirely impossible.

A subsidiary object consists in so constructing the parts that inspite'of the absence of a casing the locking elements are not easilyaccessible to instruments or tools for the purpose of separating them,but may be freely inspected to ascertain surreptitious manipulation.

iidditional objects embrace the provision of a seal which may be readilyclosed without exerting great pressure; the adoption of closing elementswhich are partly covered by the strip from which they are stamped out;and the arrangement of an elongated opening in one of the tubularlocking elements to facilitate closing of the seal.

specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings- Fi ure 1 is a top plan view of a seal inopen position, made in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation.

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of a seal in closed position.

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevationof a seal of known construction.

Fig. 3 is a similar view of the seal in closed position.

Fin. 4 illustrates in sectional elevation a modification of the seal inclosed position. F i 5 is a top plan view of a further modied form of aseal which is equipped with an additional locking element adapted tooppose separation of the locking members.

Fig. 6 shows a sectional view of the seal.

Fig. 7 is a similar view with one locking member folded upon the strippreparatory to closing the seal.

8 illustrates a sectional view of the l in closed position.

Fi 9 is a top plan view of another modi- (ion. 10 is a ectional viewthereof.

11 illustrates in section the closed .2 illustrates in section a stillfurther modification of the seal.

Fi 3 shows an enlarged section through part of a seal shown in Fig. 9and Figs. 1% and 15 are sections on respective lines of Fig. 9.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Figs. 1 to 3, 1designates a strip of tin or other suitable material or metal whichadapts itself readily to the requirements of seals. At one end of saidstrip a locking member 2 of tubular or other suitable or preferred formis stamped out. If

preferred or suitable the member 2 may be made separate and secured tothe strip 1 in any approved or suitable manner. The looking member 2 atits upper extremity is bent back upon itself to form a flange or flaringportion 3. As is obvious from Fig. 1 the opening 4. at the base of theflaring portion is formed elliptical or elongated for a purposepresently to be described. At the other end of the strip at a suitabledistance from the locking member 2 another look ing member 5 is stampedout from or may be made separate and secured to the strip 1. This memberextends in a direction opposite to that of the other member 2 and isformed at its lowermost extremity with an upturned flange or bead 6. Thelocking 7 members 2, 5 which may also be termed plug and socket membersextend in vertical direction with respect to the strip 1. In closing theseal the member 5 is turned clockwise until the flange 6 is above and inalinement with the flaring portion 3 of member 2. Thereupon slightpressure is exerted upon the member 5 until the bead 6 is forced throughthe opening 4: of the other member whereupon said bead engages theloweredge of the flaring portion and the seal is locked. The provision of theelliptical or elongated opening 1 greatly facilitates the interlockingof the members as the'short diameter of the opening is at least equal tothe diameter of the flange and hence engagement of the parts takes placeat only two diametrically opposite points. In order to facilitate thefolding of the strip and to predetermine accurately the engaging partsviz: the flaring portion 3 and the flange or bead 6. The open side ofthe member 5 (Fig. 3) is not covered since it is impossible to insertthere an instrument for the purpose of bending the flange 6 so that itforms an extension of its integral member whereby the locking memberscould be separated from one another.

The onl oaenin which would permit the y l g insertion of a tool toaccomplish separation of the member is at the base of member 2 and herethe strip 1 makes such attempts futile.

Figs. 3 and 3 illustrate a seal of known construction where the lockingmembers 2 and 5 are arranged at the same side of the strip 1. it isobvious that the opening the safety of the seal the locking member 5 isprovided with a flaring portion 6 which obviates the possibilityofinserting a fiat instrument between the locking members.

The modification illustrated in d is distinguished from the form showninFigs. 1 to 3 by the fact that a strip 9 of suitable length is foldedto form a loop with its ends interposed between the locking members. Thestrip ends are provided with openings 10 of sufficient diameter topermit passage of the plug member 5 upon closure of the seal and atwhich time they are placed in alinement with one another andwith thelocking members.

Referring to Figs. 5 to 8, 11 designates a strip of tin or othersuitable material which in contradistinction to the first form is ofgreater length. In this case the tubular member 12 extends upwardly andincludes also a flaring portion 13 which is provided with an ellipticalor elongated opening At a suitable distance another locking mem ber 15extends downwardly from the strip 11. This member is also bent back uponitself to form an annular flange or head 16 and is provided with a'flaring portion 21 at its base. 'Manifestly the two locking members canhave other than tubular form and instead of being stamped out from thestrip they can bemade separate and fastened thereto in any suitable orapproved manner.

At the other end of the strip ii an additional locking member 17 isstamped out in the form of a truncated cone having the larger diameterat its base. If desired this member may be made separate andmay besecured to. the strip in any suitable or approved manner. In order toenhance the. resiliency of the. member 17 a plurality of slots 18 areprovided, but if desired they may be dispensed with without affectingthe operativeness of the seal. From the d awing it is apparent that theslots may be mace deep enough to obtain a plurality of tongues which actindependently from one another. To further increase tie resiliency ofthe additional locking member 17 a beat 22 is stamped out therefrom fromits body portion close to its base. 7

.Between the members 12 and 15 a portion of the strip is cut out as at19 and between the members 15 and 17 two similar cut-out portions 20 areprovided.

In order to fold the sealthe member is turned counter-clockwise to theposition shown in Fig. 7 so as to engage with its base portion the underside of the strip 11'.

Thereupon the opposite end of the strip is folded in clockwisedirection-so as to place the member 17 in circumferential engage mentwith the locking member 15 and finalTy the member 12 together with thecontiguous end of the strip is again bent about the remote transverseedge of a cut-out portion 19 so as to force the flaring portion 13 intoengagement with the flange 16 of member 15 whereby the seal is locked.

From theforegoing it is obvious that the open side of the member 12corresponding to member 2 of' the first described modification is againcovered so as to prevent access to the engaging parts with a pairofpliers or other instrument for the purpose of surreptitiously forcingthe locking members apart. The function and purpose of member 17 will beexplained in connection with the subsequently described .modificationbut it may be briefly statedthat it serves as an additional lockingmeans to prevent relative movement of the locking members or plug andsocket members 12 and 15 upon manipulation. The flaring portion 13having the elliptical or elongated opening 14 engages thev annularflange16 of member 15 at only two points upon closing the seal which thus maybe eflected with slight pressure.

The seal illustrated in Figs. 5 to 8 requires three distinct foldingmovements to be closed and in order to reduce the number of motions thefurther modification presently to be described is constructed with thisend in view. The locking strip 23 is provided with the socket and plugmembers 2%, 26, the former having the flaring portion 25 while thelatter is formed with the flange 27 and the-flaring portion3l at itsbase. The locking member 28 is slotted and is provided withtheannularbead 29 as indicated inFigs. 9 and 10. 'The'plug member 26,however, is arranged at the end of a tongue 30 stamped out from anintermediate portion of the strip 23. In closing the seal the member 28is turned in counter-clockwise directionuntil it is seated on'theflaring portion 25 of the socket member 24 thereupon the plugmember 26is turned clockwise until it is above and in alinement with the socketmember. By exerting a slight pressure the plug and socket members arethen interlocked.

The function of the member 28 is best portion of the member 26, thuspreventing the same from being raised .and from exerting an undue pullon its flange .27 by virtue of the engagement between said flange andthe edge of the flaring portion 25 of the socket member. If on the otherhand a blade is inserted into the space 33 confined betweenthe members28 and 24:, an upward pressure acts on the member 28 forcing it intointimate circumferential engagement with the plug member and locking thesame in place. Attention is called to the fact that the plug member isprovided with a flaring portion 31 in order to limit the space intowhich a blade may be inserted when tampering with the seal. WVhen, forinstance, forcing a flat object between the members 26 and 28 in thespace 32 the Hat instrument will be arrested by the slanting wall of theplug member whereby only a small leverage can be secured when attemptsare made to pry the seal open.

The modification illustrated in Fig. 12 differs from the modificationillustrated in Figs. 9 to 11 by the omission of the additional lockingmember 28 and the respective end of the strip is provided with a plugmember, while an opening 34 having a sufficient diameter to looselysurround the plug member and to permit the passage of the latter uponclosure of the seal without any resistance whatever, is provided on thestamped out tongue.

The sectional views indicated in Figs. let and 15 disclose a method offorming the elongated hole in the flaring portion 25 of the socketmember 24. It is readily seen that the wall of the flaring portion formsan angle 0. on the line 14-14 of Fig. 9 with the horizontal planeintersecting the lowermost edge of the flaring portion while a differentangle 6 is formed on the line 1515. From this it is obvious that if forinstance angle 0: is smaller than the angle [5 an elongated opening isobtained so that upon closure of-the seal the plug member engages thesocket member only at two diametrically opposite points.

The form of the opening in the flaring portion of the socket member maybe varied and in Fig. 5 the flaring portion of the socket member isprovided with a circular opening provided in transverse direction of thestrip with arcuate cut-outs whereby an elongated opening is obtainedwithout unduly removing material.

When attemptsare made to open the seal it has been found by a series ofbreak tests that it is impossible to force the seal proper apart unlessthe force applied is so great that it exceeds the strength of thematerial, in which case the locking members are torn about and are socompletely destroyed that resetting of the members to hide their muv intilated condition is impossible. In view of the fact that the strip isin the form of a loop it is clear that the force applied to the seal ismore evenly distributed over the strip than over the seal proper, andfor this reason it may occur that upon fraudulent manipulation the sealmay break while the strip remains intact. To avoid these possibilitiesIhave found it advisable to arrange a plurality of slots throughout thelength of the strip and to this end in view I have provided thetriangular cut-out portions 20 in Fig. 5, while in the modificationshown in Fig. 9 a similar cut-out portion 35 is arranged which inaddition to the cut-out portion given by the stamped-out tongueeffectively weakens the strip.

I am aware that various changes and modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention and for this reason I want toavail myself of any changes, alterations, modifications and d partureswhich fall within the scope of my invention as pointed out in theappended claims.

,I claim:

1. In a seal, a tubular member having a flange, a second tubular memberhaving means for interlocking with said first named member, and a stripconnecting said members, said members being arranged one on each side ofsaid strip, the end portion of said strip being folded upon itself toafford a closure for the open base portion of the appertaining tubularmember.

2. In a seal, a strip and a pair of tubular members having flanges andbeing arranged on said strip, said members being adaptal to interlockupon being brought into engagement by pressure, said strip being foldedupon itself preparatory to locking said members, to afford a closure forthe base opening of one of the members. 7

3. In a seal, a strip, a tubular member, and a second tubular memberprovided with means for interlocking with said first named member, saidmembers extending in opposite directions with respect to each other andbeing arranged one on each side of said strip, the end portion of saidstrip being folded upon itself to afford a closure for the base openingof the appertaining tubular member.

4. In a seal, a strip, a socket member arranged on one side of saidstrip and extending upwardly therefrom, and a plug member arranged onthe other side of said stripv at a distance from said socket member andextending downwardly from said strip, said 5. In a seal, a strip,tubular locking members adapted to interlock upon being brought intoengagement, said tubular memrs be ng arranged one on each side of saidstrlp whereby the strip is folded prior to interlocking the members soas to form a closure for the base opening of one of said tubularmembers.

6. In a seal, a socket member, a plug member provided with means forinterlockmg with said first named member, and a flexible elementconnecting said socket and plug members, said element being folded uponitself to form a closure for the base opening of said socket member uponclosure of the seal. I I

7. seal comprising a socket member providedwith locking means, a plugmember provided with means for interlockin wlth the locking of'saidfirst named member a flexible element to which said first and secondnamed members are secured, and an additional locking element forpreventing separation of said members, after they are interlocked, saidmembers extending in opposite directions from said element. 7

8. A seal comprising a socket member provided with locking means, a plugmem ber providedwith means for interlocking wlth the locking of saidfirst named member, a flexible element to which said first and secondnamed members are secured, and an additional locking element forpreventmg separation of said members, after they are interlocked, saidmembers extending in opposite directions with respect to each otherwhereby the locking means are arranged on opposite sides of said element7 9. A seal comprising a socket member, provided with locking means,aplug member provided with means for interlockingwith the locking ofsaid first named member, a flexible element to which saidfirst andsecond named members are secured, and an additional locking element forpreventing separation of said members, after they are interlocked, saidmembers extending upwardly and downwardly respectively from saidelement, said element being folded with an end portion thereof over theopen base portion of said socket member.

10. A seal comprising a socket member provi'declwith locking means, aplug mem ber provided with means for interlocking with the locking ofsaid socket member,.an

additional locking member adapted to be interposed between said members,and a flexible element serially connecting all of said members, saidfirst two members being arranged one on each side of said element andextending in opposite directions with respect to each other.

11. A seal comprising a socket member, a plug member provided with meansfor interlocking with said socket member, an additional locking memberadapted to be inteposed between said members to oppose separation of thesame, and a flexible element serially connecting all of said members,said first two members extending in opposite directions, said plugmember extending in slanting directionwith respect to said element.

12 A seal comprising a tubular member having a flaring portion formingan elongated opening at its smaller end, a locking member provided withmeans for interlocking with said tubular member, additional lockingmeans adapted to be interposed between said first two members to opposesep aration of the same, and a strip connecting all of said members,said first two members extending in vertical and slanting directionrespectively with respect to said strip and being arranged one on eachside thereof.

13. A seal comprising a tubular member having a flaring portion, thewall of said flaring portion forming diflerent angles with respect to ahorizontal plane intersecting its lower-most edge, a locking memberprovided with means for interlocking with said tubular member,additional locking means adapted to be interposed between said first twomembers to oppose separation of the same, and a strip connecting all ofsaid members, said first two members extending in vertical and slantingdirection, respectively, with respect to said strip and being arrangedone on each side thereof.

14. A seal comprising a strip, a socket member arranged at one end ofsaid strip, a locking member provided at the opposite end of said strip,said strip being formed intermediate its ends with a stamped out tongue,and a plug member formed on said tongue and means for securing thesocket and plug members together.

15. A seal comprising a strip, a socket member arranged at one end ofsaid strip, a tongue stamped out from an intermediate portion of saidstrip, a plug member arranged at the end of the tongue and provided withmeans for interlocking with said socket member, and a locking elementadapted to be interposed between said socket and plug members to opposeseparation of the same, said socket and plug members extending inopposite directions with respect to said strip.

16. A seal comprising a strip, a socket member arranged at one end ofsaid strip, a tongue stamped out from an lntermediate portion of saidstrip, a plug member arranged at the end of the tongue being providedwith a flaring portion at its base and with means for interlocking withsaid socket member, and a locking element adapted to be interposedbetween said socket and plug tion of the same, said socket and plugmembers being provided with means for interlocking.

18. As an article of manufacture, a seal comprising a strip, a socketmember formed at one end of said strip, a tongue stamped out from saidstrip, a plug member arranged at the end of said tongue, and a lockingmemher at the other end of said strip adapted to be interposed betweensaid socket and plug members to oppose separation of the same, saidlocking member being formed with slots and with a bead at its base, saidsocket and plug members being provided with means for interlocking.

19. As an article of manufacture, a seal comprising a strip, a socketmember formed at one end of said strip and extending vertically andupwardly therefrom, a tongue stamped out from an intermediate portion ofsaid strip, a plug member arranged at the end of the tongue andextending downwardly and in slanting direction with respect thereto,said socket and plug members being provided with means for interlockingand a locking member at the other end of said strip adapted to beinterposed between said socket and plug members to oppose separation ofthe same, said locking memher being formed with slots and with a bead atits base substantially as described.

20. A self-locking seal, comprising a flexible sheet-metal shackleprovided at a short distance from one end with an externallyflangedlocking-stud and having the metal at said end forming alaterally-projecting cup, with the bottom wall thereof perforate anddished inwardly to afford an internal locking flange, the end portion ofthe shackle being folded upon itself so that a portion of the shackleafiords a Wall covering the open base-portion of the cup, said shacklehaving a perforate end adapted to engage said stud and lie beneath thebottom of said cup when the seal is locked.

21.. In a seal, a tubular member, a second tubular member having meansfor interlocking with said first named member, a flexible elementconnecting said members, and means for closing the base opening of oneof said members, said closing means heing formed integral with saidflexible element.

22. In a seal, a tubular member, a second tubular'member having meansfor interlocking with said first named member, a flexible elementconnecting said members, and

means for closing the base opening of one of. said members, said tubularmembers and said closing means being formed integral with said flexibleelement. 7

i 23. A seal comprising tubular locking members adapted torinterlockupon being access to theinterlocking parts of said member, said meansbeing formed integral with" i said flexible element. g

In testimony whereof I have herewith set my hand.

,VERYNEST EIGE.

